October 15th, early in the morning.

With sunrise still almost an hour away, this is the darkest hour before dawn.

The night sky is full of stars, but unfortunately the Big Dipper is not visible in the distant Southern Hemisphere, and it is replaced by the Southern Cross.

Under Xue Can's order, the 1st Marine Brigade and 1st Regiment began to enter the starting position of the offensive one after another, preparing to officially launch the attack on Darwin.

Vulnerable civilians, such as the elderly, women and children, have largely been evacuated in the past few days, and the remainder are mainly young men and women, including many high-spirited militiamen.

The ultimatum of the 6th Infantry Division of the Australian Army was clearly informed that casualties among civilians stranded in the city were inevitable, and it was recommended to take the initiative to surrender the city.

Divisional commander Major General Richard and Mayor Thomas jointly wrote a letter of reply, which was blank and contained only a few sentences: "That's totally out of the question."

"In vain, they won't agree."

"Admittedly, but the basic etiquette must be in place."

So from now on there would be no worries, and if necessary, the Ming army could completely raze Darwin to the ground.

The problem was that the purpose of landing in Darwin was to take the port city as a transit point, and it was unacceptable to destroy it completely.

On the orders of someone Zhou, the participating troops formed a large number of sweeping detachments, each of which was combined from two infantry squads, and on average each infantry battalion formed four such temporary units.

Sweep detachments usually operate in close combat teams of three or four people, and are heavily armed with submachine guns, automatic guns, shotguns, and carry a large number of grenades and blasters.

Their mission was to move on both flanks of the main axis of attack, to spy on enemy deployments and to sweep away enemy troops in their houses.

At a macro level, the core of street fighting is to capture or destroy key buildings and use them as anchors to radiate power around them, so that they can compress the enemy's space to move around and eventually take control of the entire city.

But when it comes to tactics, the rules and recommendations given in the various doctrines and manuals are much more complex.

In this era, the armies of the great powers did not have much experience in street fighting, let alone the Ming army.

Although Zhou Changfeng has done his best to impart many of the essentials of tactical organization summarized by later generations, he knows that many lessons can only be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people if they are tested at the cost of blood.

Throughout the ages, there will always be people who do not hit the south wall and do not look back.

Street fighting is characterized by the narrow width of the battlefield, the difficulty of command and communication, and the troops may be crowded together if they are not careful, or they may scatter if they are not careful.

In order to reduce the level of command and speed up the response, officers at all levels should be delegated to one level -- regiment to battalion, battalion to platoon, and squad to platoon.

Combat formations should avoid collective action of more than one squad, and priority should be given to small groups of three or four people. It is necessary to use a wide range of explosives flexibly.

At this time, the eastern sky was already showing the whiteness of the fish's belly.

As the sun leaped above the horizon, whistles sounded one after another, and the 1st Marine Brigade in charge of the northern city area immediately attacked.

[Picture - Darwin]

Before stepping into the city, sporadic cold guns fired from multiple directions.

Shot after shot around the ranks of the Marine Corps, and from time to time people were injured by ricochets or splashed rubble.

The city of Darwin had a population of just over 100,000 in later generations, and now it has a population of just over 20,000.

Although the population is small, the area of the urban area is not small, close to 20 square kilometers, and the houses and buildings are relatively sparsely separated from each other.

This is good news for armored forces, the tank will not be overcrowded even if two are side by side.

The convoy directly under the 1st Marine Brigade was also broken up and put into battle, with a platoon of tanks assigned to each street, or four medium tanks, using infantry-guided tank town infantry to coordinate tactics.

The Marine infantry was about fifty meters in front of the tank, cautiously advancing slowly against the sides of the street.

Half an hour after the battle began, the lead detachment found that there were barricades piled up of abandoned cars, broken furniture, large wooden boxes, and so on on on the streets.

"Dada-da-"

"Click-click-"

The Vickers and Bren light machine guns, which were placed in front of the left and the front right, opened fire at the same time, and the dense crossfire covered the entire street in an instant.

Even though they had been prepared, several people were still knocked down by bullets in this one photo.

In addition to machine-gun fire, grenades and mortar shells also fell one after another, and the streets were obscured by the smoke from the explosion.

Almost instantly, the battle-hardened soldiers of the 1st Marine Brigade rolled and threw themselves behind the bunkers next to them, and then immediately returned fire fiercely in the direction they chose under the command of the officers.

"Over there! Ten o'clock, ten o'clock to the second floor, hit! ”

"Grenades are coming!"

"Lao Qi was shot! Come! ”

"Medic! Come and save people! ”

The cunning Australian army has planted mines in places that might be used as bunkers, such as corners, low walls, and car wrecks.

They unplugged the bolt of the Mills grenade and pressed it under the inconspicuous debris, which, upon touch, bounced off the handle, and the grenade exploded a few seconds later.

Medics and first responders braved a hail of bullets to crawl forward, dragging bleeding wounded people back to safety, bandaging them and administering painkiller injections.

"The chariot is coming from behind! It's time to fire! ”

"Boom!"

The Type 38 medium tank, numbered 1-3, was the No. 3 car in a row directly under the combat team, and the crew members quickly aimed at the window on the second floor of the building that was spewing flames in the distance, and fired a 48mm anti-explosive bomb.

The masonry and dust flew and the Vickers heavy machine gun went silent, and several Australian soldiers, covered in blood, were blown to the room.

The four tanks quickly suppressed the enemy's fire with accurate and timely direct-aim fire, and the team began to move forward slowly.

The soldiers dispersed in small groups, preparing to clear the houses where the Australian troops were strong.

"Help the infantry into the house and kill a bomb."

"One shot of an anti-explosive bomb is good!"

Marines fired tracer bullets from light machine guns at the walls of houses, thereby indicating the location of the tanks.

The tank then aimed at the wall and opened fire, blasting a large hole in the top.

In order not to choke on the smoke and cough, the soldiers invariably covered their mouths and noses with towels, then hunched over and threw several grenades into the hole in the wall.

As soon as it exploded, they rushed into the house and shot at anything that was still moving, with submachine guns, automatic guns, and shotguns!

From downstairs to upstairs, the Marines threw a few grenades into each room before breaking down the door, and then knocked out the remaining enemy soldiers inside with heavy fire.

The seemingly lofty and cool CQB tactics are ultimately police tactics, with many compromises made to minimize the impact of violence and avoid collateral harm.

The army's tactics of clearing towns were much simpler and more straightforward, allowing the use of almost any means to destroy the enemy.

When breaking into a house, the military often resorts to more violent and effective methods.

Entering through windows and doors is not optimal, as there may be mines behind them, and enemy guns may be pointed at them. In contrast, you can blow up the wall directly from the side and drill a hole into the house, so that you can take the enemy by surprise.

Should the police be concerned about the influence of public opinion, does the military need to consider these?

In fact, the 1st Marine Brigade's approach was already very "elegant", and the 27th Army Division attacking Nancheng District was really simple and rude.

They approached the enemy's house under the cover of fire and smoke screens, and then placed a large number of explosive packs and blasting canisters on the load-bearing walls of the house, directly destroying the entire building!

Often, after the earth-shattering explosion, the Australian soldiers inside were buried alive in the rubble.

However, the annoying thing about street fighting is that even if the attacker has the right tactics, the defender can still inflict a lot of damage on the attacker as long as they are determined and stubbornly resist.

In the mobile headquarters in the northern suburbs, Zhou Changfeng, who had a solemn expression, was distracted while nibbling on steamed buns while looking at the smoke in the distance.

The radio on the Bren MkII carrier next to it received the telegrams from all sides, ticking and ticking; Several field telephones have never stopped, one after another.

Zhou Changfeng's original command vehicle was a Type 32 armored vehicle command type, but the six-wheeled armored vehicle with this truck chassis had poor off-road performance and limited equipment.

In view of the fact that the Ming army captured a large amount of booty in the battle to pacify Nanyang, he picked some Bren machine gun cars from them and converted them into armored command vehicles.

"Report, Junza. The supervising army reported that the first regiment and three battalions were fighting timidly and could not resign from the front. Xiao Li clenched his fists and reported.

Zhou Changfeng ordered without hesitation: "The gendarmes went over to verify, and if it was conclusive, they would be removed from their posts and detained and returned, and the battalion deputy would temporarily take over their duties." ”

Fierce fighting lasted from early morning to dusk, and there was no respite for both sides, even after nightfall.

The Australian army organized small counterattack units to try to recapture the stronghold lost during the day, and the Ming army also sent scouts or patrols to try to penetrate in depth.

Stuart Middle School in the North and the Hotel Isidor in the South are the most contested buildings on both sides.

The latter, a four-storey hotel that may not stand out in other cities, is already one of Darwin's main hotels.

The hotel was garrisoned by a reinforced platoon of the 15th Brigade of the 6th Division of the Australian Army, and the 27th Division of the Ming Army sent an infantry team to attack with the support of some engineers and anti-chemical warfare.

It may seem like a small scale, but the battlefield is not point-to-point, and in fact, there are thousands of people on both sides of the battle line around the Isido Hotel.

Heavy shelling blew the reinforced concrete building, which is rarely seen in Darwin, and the exterior walls were blackened with bullet holes and potholes.

"Machine guns mounted, cover a few of them!"

"Fire suppression!"

"Fuck! Shoot a grenade at that window on the third floor! ”

The Australian army had already thrown away most of the combustible materials in the hotel, and the beds, wardrobes, curtains, carpets, etc. had been cleaned up.

Therefore, although the Ming army wiped out the enemy on the first floor with grenades and flamethrowers, the Australian troops on the second and third floors were still resisting.

Nor did the former superiority of infantry automatic firepower exist here, as the Australians, unlike the conservative and stubborn British, were armed with a considerable number of Thomson submachine guns.

Much of Darwin was reduced to rubble in the raging fighting, especially the two main battlefields surrounding Stuart High School and the Isidor Hotel, where any buildings were blown down and not a single intact house could be seen.

The Ming army's 80mm mortars, 112mm infantry guns, 112mm howitzers, and 144mm howitzers, and the Australian army's 3-inch mortars, QF4.5-inch howitzers, and QF18-pounder field guns, all types of artillery on both sides fired shells without scruples.

Between such pieces of ruins and broken walls, the Australian defenders can be called an inch of land, and they and the Ming army have a house to fight for, a floor for a floor, and a street for a street.

The Ming infantry once relied on the more common submachine guns and automatic guns to take advantage of a lot of close-quarters combat, but now the Thomson submachine gun and Winchester shotgun against the Australian infantry can only be regarded as equal.

Moreover, the morale of the 6th Infantry Division of the Australian Army has been extremely high from the beginning to the present, and it can even be called fanatical, they resist as much as they can, and if they are surrounded, they often insist on fighting to the end.

The Ming army had to pay huge casualties for every step forward and every building captured, and the result of such a bloody battle was rubble and corpses everywhere.

The shotguns used by the Australian army proved to be a very suitable weapon for close combat, and the Ming army found that they should also have more shotguns, otherwise there would be some asymmetry in the exchange of fire.

The Ming Army has always not regarded shotguns as standard combat equipment, so there is no unified regulation of the model.

Although the various infantry divisions were more or less equipped with a few shotguns, the models were often chaotic - Pou Cheng three-barreled shotguns, Ruifeng pump-action shotguns, Remington shotguns, Browning semi-automatic shotguns, and so on.

The 27th Division, which suffered in the face of shotguns, directly sent a telegram to the military headquarters and strongly requested that the distribution of military shotguns be stepped up!

By October 18, four days and three nights of intense street fighting had exhausted the Ming troops.

The 1st Marine Brigade suffered 373 casualties and 1,128 wounded, and the irreparable loss of 6 Type 38 medium tanks barely controlled several key points in Beicheng District.

The price paid by the 27th Infantry Division was even more severe, with 466 officers and men killed and 1,405 wounded.

Tank units, officers and soldiers, and artillery units also suffered casualties, and the 1st Assault Vehicle Battalion lost 17 heavy tanks before and after, of which 7 were of repair value.

However, most of the key points in the southern city have been captured, and the Hotel Isidor has changed hands three times in the past few days and nights!

The 6th Infantry Division of the Australian Army was almost fully equipped before the war, with a full strength rate of 96% and 13,790 officers and men, but after nearly ten days of bloody fighting, it has been basically annihilated, and only a few hundred remnants are left in a residential area and museum in the middle of the city to resist stubbornly.

However, there were still many scattered stragglers in the city, but because most of the key points were occupied by the Ming army, these unstructured sporadic resistances did not pose a threat.

Weary, Zhou Changfeng sat on two empty ammunition boxes and drank tea, but received radio communication from the Longshuo.

The military commissioner who was assigned to observe the battle situation said: "Zhou waits, the DPRK has just called to inquire about the progress of the battle here. ”

(End of chapter)